Quotes

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Johnny Fontane:
[discussing his problems]
I don't know what to do, Godfather. My voice is weak, it's weak. Anyway, if I had this part in the picture, it puts me right back on top, you know. But this... this man out there. He won't give it to me, the head of the studio.

Johnny Fontane:
A month ago he bought the rights to this book, a best seller. The main character is a guy just like me. I wouldn't even have to act, just be myself. Oh, Godfather, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do...

[All of a sudden, Don Corleone rises from his chair and gives Fontane a savage shake]

Michael:
Well, when Johnny was first starting out, he was signed to a personal services contract with this big-band leader. And as his career got better and better, he wanted to get out of it. But the band leader wouldn't let him. Now, Johnny is my father's godson. So my father went to see this bandleader and offered him $10,000 to let Johnny go, but the bandleader said no. So the next day, my father went back, only this time with Luca Brasi. Within an hour, he had a signed release for a certified check of $1000.

Moe Greene:
You goddamn guineas you really make me laugh. I do you a favor and take Freddie in when you're having a bad time, and now you're gonna try and push me out!

Michael:
You took Freddie in because the Corleone Family bankrolled your casino, and the Molinari Family on the Coast guaranteed his safety. Now we're talking business, let's talk business.

Moe Greene:
Yeah, let's talk business, Mike. First of all, you're all done. The Corleone Family don't even have that kind of muscle anymore. The Godfather's sick, right? You're getting chased out of New York by Barzini and the other Families. What do you think is going on here? You think you can come to my hotel and take over? I talked to Barzini - I can make a deal with him, and still keep my hotel!

Don Corleone:
We have known each other many years, but this is the first time you've come to me for counsel or for help. I can't remember the last time you invited me to your house for a cup of coffee, even though my wife is godmother to your only child. But let's be frank here. You never wanted my friendship. And you feared to be in my debt.

Don Corleone:
I understand. You found paradise in America. You had a good trade, you made a good living. The police protected you and there were courts of law. So you didn't need a friend like me. Now you come and say "Don Corleone, give me justice." But you don't ask with respect. You don't offer friendship. You don't even think to call me "Godfather." You come into my house on the day my daughter is to be married and you ask me to do murder - for money.

Don Corleone:
Bonasera, Bonasera, what have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully? If you'd come to me in friendship, this scum who ruined your daughter would be suffering this very day. And if by some chance an honest man like yourself made enemies they would become my enemies. And then, they would fear you.

Tom Hagen:
Mr Corleone is Johnny Fontane's godfather. Now Italians regard that as a very close, a very sacred religious relationship.

Jack Woltz:
Tell your boss he can ask for anything else, but this is one favour I can't grant him.

Tom Hagen:
Mr. Corleone never asks a second favor once he's refused the first, understood?

Jack Woltz:
You don't understand. Johnny Fontane never gets that movie. That part is perfect for him. It'll make him a big star. I'm gonna run him out of the movies. And let me tell you why. Johnny Fontane ruined one of Woltz International's most valuable proteges. For three years we had her under contract, singing lessons, dancing lessons, acting lessons. I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars. I was gonna make her a big star. And let me be even more frank, just to show you that I'm not a hard-hearted man, that it's not all dollars and cents. She was beautiful! She was young, she was innocent. She was the greatest piece of ass I've ever had, and I've had 'em all over the world. And then Johnny Fontaine comes along with his olive oil voice and guinea charm and she runs off. She threw it all away just to make me look ridiculous. And a man in my position can't afford to be made to look ridiculous. Now you get the hell out of here! And if that goomba tries any rough stuff, you tell him I ain't no bandleader. Yeah, I heard that story.

[Hagen has been calmly eating his meal throughout Woltz's tirade]

Tom Hagen:
Thank you for the dinner and a very pleasant evening. Have your car take me to the airport. Mr Corleone is a man who insists on hearing bad news at once.

Sollozzo:
Bene, Don Corleone. I need a man who has powerful friends. I need a million dollars in cash. I need, Don Corleone, all of those politicians that you carry around in your pocket, like so many nickels and dimes.

Don Corleone:
I said that I would see you because I had heard that you were a serious man, to be treated with respect. But I must say no to you and let me give you my reasons. It's true I have a lot of friends in politics, but they wouldn't be so friendly if they knew my business was drugs instead of gambling which they consider a harmless vice. But drugs, that's a dirty business.

[the Don gives his son a cold stare, freezing Santino into silence. The others fidget with embarrassment at this outbreak, but Sollozzo looks slyly satisfied... ]

Don Corleone:
[dismissive]
I have a sentimental weakness for my children and I spoil them, as you can see. They talk when they should listen. Anyway, Signor Sollozzo, my no to you is final. I want to congratulate you on your new business and I'm sure you'll do very well and good luck to you. Especially since your interests don't conflict with mine. Thank you.

Don Corleone:
What's the matter with you? I think your brain is going soft with all that comedy you are playing with that young girl. Never tell anyone outside the Family what you are thinking again. Go on.

Bonasera:
I believe in America. America has made my fortune. And I raised my daughter in the American fashion. I gave her freedom but I taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a "boy friend," not an Italian. She went to the movies with him. She stayed out late. I didn't protest. Two months ago he took her for a drive, with another boy friend. They made her drink whiskey and then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted. She kept her honor. So they beat her. Like an animal. When I went to the hospital her nose was broken. Her jaw was shattered, held together by wire. She couldn't even weep because of the pain. But I wept. Why did I weep? She was the light of my life. A beautiful girl. Now she will never be beautiful again.

[He breaks down at this point, and the Don gestures to his son to get him a drink]

Bonasera:
I went to the police, like a good American. These two boys were brought to trial. The judge sentenced them to three years in prison, and suspended the sentence. Suspended sentence! They went free that very day! I stood in the courtroom like a fool, and those two bastards, they smiled at me. Then I said to my wife, "For justice, we must go to Don Corleone."

Don Corleone:
Why did you go to the police? Why didn't you come to me first?

Bonasera:
What do you want of me? Tell me anything. But do what I beg you to do.

[the Don rises as if to leave, but changes his mind midway and seats himself closer to Michael]

Don Corleone:
I knew Santino was going to have to go through all this and Fredo... well, Fredo was... But I, I never wanted this for you. I work my whole life, I don't apologize, to take care of my family. And I refused to be a fool dancing on the strings held by all of those big shots. That's my life, I don't apologize for that. But I always thought that when it was your time, that you would be the one to hold the strings. Senator Corleone, Governor Corleone, something.

Clemenza:
Pretty goddam bad. Probably all the other Families will line up against us. That's all right. These things gotta happen every five years or so, ten years. Helps to get rid of the bad blood. Been ten years since the last one. You know, you gotta stop them at the beginning. Like they should have stopped Hitler at Munich, they should never let him get away with that, they was just asking for trouble.

[Clemenza now finishes working on the gun]

Clemenza:
You know, Mike, we was all proud of you being a hero and all. Your father too.

Don Corleone:
You talk about vengeance. Is vengeance going to bring your son back to you, or my boy to me? I forgo the vengeance of my son. But I have selfish reasons. My youngest son was forced to leave this country because of this Sollozzo business. All right, now I have to make arrangements to bring him back here safely cleared of all these false charges. But I'm a superstitious man, and if some unlucky accident should befall him... if he should be shot in the head by a police officer, or if he should hang himself in his jail cell, or if he's struck by a bolt of lightning, then I'm going to blame some of the people in this room, and that I do not forgive. But, that aside, let me say that I swear, on the souls of my grandchildren, that I will not be the one to break the peace we have made here today.

Michael Corleone:
Tom, wait a minute. I'm talking about a cop that's mixed up in drugs. I'm talking about a - a - a dishonest cop - a crooked cop who got mixed up in the rackets and got what was coming to him. That's a terrific story. And we have newspaper people on the payroll, don't we, Tom?

Tom Hagen:
[on the phone]
This is Tom Hagen, calling for Vito Corleone at his request. Now, you owe your Don a service. He has no doubt that you will repay him. In one hour he will be at your funeral parlor to ask for your help. Be there to greet him.

Tom Hagen:
Sollozo is known as the Turk. He's supposed to be very good with a knife. But only in matters of business, or of some sort of reasonable complaint. His business is narcotics. He has the fields in Turkey, where they grow the poppy. In Sicily he has the plant to process it into heroin. He needs cash and he needs protection from the police for which he gives a piece of the action, I couldn't find out how much. The Tattaglia Family is behind him here in New York so they have to be in it for something.

Tom Hagen:
Well, I say yes. There is more money potential in narcotics than anything else we're looking at now. If we don't get into it, somebody else will, maybe one of the Five Families, maybe all of them. And with the money they earn they'll be able to buy more police and political power. Then they come after us. Right now we have the unions and we have the gambling and those are the best things to have. But narcotics is a thing of the future. If we don't get a piece of that action we risk everything we have. Not now, but ten years from now.

Don Zaluchi:
I also don't believe in drugs. For years I paid my people extra so they wouldn't do that kind of business. Somebody comes to them and says, "I have powders; if you put up three, four thousand dollar investment, we can make fifty thousand distributing." So they can't resist. I want to control it as a business, to keep it respectable.

[slams his hand on the table and shouts]

Don Zaluchi:
I don't want it near schools! I don't want it sold to children! That's an infamia. In my city, we would keep the traffic in the dark people, the coloreds. They're animals anyway, so let them lose their souls.

Jack Woltz:
Now you listen to me, you smooth-talking son-of-a-bitch, let me lay it on the line for you and your boss, whoever he is! Johnny Fontane will never get that movie! I don't care how many dago guinea wop greaseball goombahs come out of the woodwork!

Michael:
There are negotiations being made that are going to answer all of your questions and solve all of your problems. That's all I can tell you right now. Carlo, you grew up in Nevada. When we make our move there you're going to be my right hand man. Tom Hagen is no longer Consigliari. He's going to be our lawyer in Vegas. That's no reflection on Tom it's just the way I want it. Besides, if I ever help who's a better Consigliari than my father. That's it.

Michael:
You're not a wartime Consigliari, Tom. Things could get rough with the move we're making.

Don Corleone:
Tom, I advised Michael. I never thought you were a bad Consigliari. I thought Santino was a bad Don, rest in peace. Michael has all my confidence as do you. But there are reasons why you must have nothing to do with what's going to happen.

Sollozzo:
[to Michael, in Sicilian]
I am sorry. What happened to your father was business. I have much respect for your father. But your father, his thinking is old-fashioned. You must understand why I had to do that. Now let's work through where we go from here.

[Michael tries speaking in Sicilian, but can't express himself properly, so with a quick look at McCluskey they both switch to English]

Michael:
What I want... what's most important to me is that I have a guarantee: no more attempts on my father's life.

Sollozzo:
What guarantees could I give you, Mike? I'm the hunted one. I've missed my chance. You think too much of me, kid. I am not that clever. All I want is a truce.

Emilio Barzini:
[during a meeting with the Five Families]
Times have changed. It's not like the Old Days, when we can do anything we want. A refusal is not the act of a friend. If Don Corleone had all the judges, and the politicians in New York, then he must share them, or let us others use them. He must let us draw the water from the well. Certainly he can present a bill for such services; after all... we are not Communists.

Sonny:
Hey, whaddya gonna do, nice college boy, eh? Didn't want to get mixed up in the Family business, huh? Now you wanna gun down a police captain. Why? Because he slapped ya in the face a little bit? Hah? What do you think this is the Army, where you shoot 'em a mile away? You've gotta get up close like this and - bada-BING! - you blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit. C'mere...

Luca Brasi:
Don Corleone, I am honored and grateful that you have invited me to your daughter... 's wedding... on the day of your daughter's wedding. And I hope their first child be a masculine child. I pledge my ever-ending loyalty.

Don Corleone:
[to Michael]
So, Barzini will move against you first. He'll set up a meeting with someone that you absolutely trust, guaranteeing your safety. And at that meeting, you'll be assassinated.

Sonny:
Tom-anuch! Hey, a hundred button men on the street twenty-four hours a day. That Turk shows one hair on his ass, he's dead. Believe me.

Sonny:
[to Michael, whose face is bruised]
Hey Michael, c'mere. Let me look at you. You look beautiful, just beautiful, you're gorgeous. Hey, listen to this. The Turk, he wants to talk. You imagine the nerve on this son of a bitch, hey? Craps out last night he wants a meetin' today.

Sonny:
No, no, no! No more! Not this time, Consigliere! No more meetin's! No more discussions! No more Sollozzo tricks! You give 'em one message - I want Solozzo. If not, it's all-out war, we go to the mattresses.

Tom Hagen:
Some of the other families won't sit still for all-out war!

Tom Hagen:
Now, he's definitely on Sollozzo's payroll and for big money. McClusky has agreed to be the Turk's bodyguard. What you have to understand, Sonny, is that while Sollozzo's being guarded like this he is invulnerable. Now, nobody has ever gunned down a New York police captain. Never. It would be disastrous. All the five families would come after you, Sonny. The Corleone Family would be outcast. Even the old man's political protection would run for cover. So, do me a favor, take this into consideration.

Sonny:
Let me ask you something, Professor. I mean, what about this McClusky, huh? What do we do with this cop here?

Michael:
They want to have a meeting with me, right? It will be me, McClusky and Sollozzo. Let's set the meeting. Get our informants to find out where it's going to be held. Now we insist it's a public place - a bar or a restaurant, some place where there's people there so I'll feel safe. They're going to search me when I first meet them, right? So I can't have a weapon on me then. But if Clemenza can figure a way to have a weapon planted there for me, then I'll kill them both.

Sonny:
[Clemenza, Tessio and Sonny laugh]
Hey. What are you gonna do? Nice college boy, huh? Didn't want to get mixed up in the family business? Now you want to gun down a police captain, what, 'cause he slapped you in the face a little bit, huh? What do you think, this the Army where you shoot 'em a mile away? No, you gotta get up close like this - badda-bing! - you blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit. C'mere.

[Kisses Michael on the head]

Sonny:
You're taking this very personal. Tom, this is business and this man is taking it very, very personal.

Connie:
[shrieking at Michael]
You killed my husband! You waited until our father died so nobody could stop you and you killed him! You killed him! You blamed him for Sonny, you always did, everybody did. But you never thought about me. You never gave a dam about me. What am I going to do now?

Connie:
Why do you think he kept Carlo at the mall? All the time he knew he was going to kill him. And then he stood Godfather to our baby. You think you know your husband? You know how many men he had killed! Read the papers. Read the papers! That's your husband!

[Michael takes Connie into her arms, but she goes wild again and tries to attack him]

Michael:
The Corleone family is thinking of giving up all of its interest in the olive oil business, settling out here. Now Moe Greene will sell us his share of the hotel and the casino so that it can be completely owned by the family. Tom.

[Hagen hands Michael some papers]

Fredo:
Hey, Mike, are you sure about that? I mean, Moe, loves the business. He never said anything to me about sellin'.

Michael:
I'll make him an offer he can't refuse. You see, Johnny, we feel that entertainment is going to be a big factor in drawing gamblers into the casinos. We're hoping that you'll sign a contract agreeing to appear 5 times a year. Perhaps convince some of your friends in the movies to do the same. We're counting on you, Johnny.

Moe Greene:
You got everything you need? The chef cooked for you special, the dancers will kick your tongue out and your credit is good. Draw chips for everyone in the room so they can play on the house.

Tom Hagen:
I'm an attorney for the Corleone family. These men are private detectives hired to protect Vito Corleone. They are licensed to carry firearms. If you interfere you'll have to appear before a judge in the morning and show cause.

Sonny:
Well, how about a drink? Some brandy, it'll sweat it out of ya. Alright, babe...

[Paulie leaves]

Sonny:
[to Clemenza]
I want you to take care of that sonofabitch right away. Paulie sold out the old man, that stronz. I don't want to see him no more. I want you to make that first thing on your list, understand?

Don Corleone:
[to Luca Brasi]
I'm a little worried about this Sollozzo fellow. I want you to find out what he's got under his fingernails. Go to the Tattaglias, and tell them you're not too happy with our Family, and find out what you can...

Sollozzo:
He won't be, Mike. I swear on my children he won't be. But you gotta keep an open mind when we talk. I mean, I hope you're not a hothead like your brother Sonny. You can't talk business with him.

Capt. McCluskey:
Ahh, he's a good kid. I'm sorry about the other night, Mike.